Republican renewable energy advocate argues for an all of the above portfolio for Michigan

Mark Pischea is a partner in the Lansing-based Sterling Corporation, a Republican communications company specializing in a wide variety of areas, including ballot initiatives. Pischea supported the recently defeated Proposal 3 on the Michigan ballot.

Pischea says confusion is a big reason all of the ballot proposals went down in November in Michigan.

"What we saw in 2012 in Michigan was a ball of confusion like we've never seen before that rolled into an avalanche," says Pischea. "It took down not just Proposal 3 but all the proposals."

A lot of what Pischea and his team were trying to do during the push for Proposal 3 "was to court conservatives and right-of-center groups to the renewable energy cause," Pischea says. "And we feel like we've started an important and inclusive dialogue in Michigan we think we can build on.

"We lost a campaign, but we didn't lose that battle; the battle is just getting started.

Pischea advocates for an "all of the above strategy" and believes our future energy portfolio should mirror our 401K plans.

Mark Pischea, Kirk Heinze

"In our retirement portfolios we aren't putting all of our money in one basket," he says. "we're spreading it out to protect ourselves, and our energy portfolio needs to be the same so we aren't overly reliant on one form of energy."

"We formed a coalition around the ballot proposal called Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs," Pischea says. "We're still committed to increasing Michigan's commitment to renewable energy, and that will continue."